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The most important thing that can be said about George Groddeck is that he was possessed of an almost religious belief in the unconscious and a profound understanding of (the) it. His ability to see the workings of the It in all aspects of human life led to his becoming the “father of psychosomatic medicine.” This is abundantly clear in all of his writings and seems to be the main point of this book, which is a skillful selection of his works written between 1917 and 1934, the year of his death.
The book begins with the correspondence between Sigmund Freud and George Groddeck, and it reveals Groddeck to be an ardent follower of Freud. To the very end, Groddeck remains vulnerable, human and insightful. His self-admitted father transference to Freud is never quite resolved but it seems to provide the impetus for Groddeck to continue writing for the psychoanalytic community. In spite of the fact that he was not a fully trained analyst, and was often perceived by other members of the inner psychoanalytic circle as weird, Freud always defended and encouraged Groddeck and kept him within the fold.
The rest of the book contains a well-chosen compendium of Groddeck's utterings on his concept of the It and its relationship to